Flagging

Flagging tape could be one of the most important tools in your pack. You can mark the spot where you dropped your pack for a stalk, where you stood when you shot, where the animal was standing when it was hit, and the location of blood. If you’ve ever followed a faint blood trail and struggled to pick up the next clue, you know how effective it can be to look back and see three or four ribbons marking the known direction of travel. However, do you really need a full roll? It’s bulky in my pack, and it can be considered heavy when backpack hunting in the backcountry. So here is what I do to convert a full roll, as shown below, into the smaller rolls shown in the second photo.

I find that ¼” dowels work best. Cut about 4 inches of dowel and chuck it up into a drill. Start the flagging on the dowel and keep tension while transferring the tape from the larger roll. It takes a steady hand at first to not end up with a mess. I found that smaller rolls 1 ¼” to 1 ½” in diameter will hold about 30 feet of ribbon. Once you have transferred the desired amount of flagging tape, put some adhesive tape onto it to prevent unraveling. Take side cutters and trim the longer end of the dowel. I find that just a couple small rolls in my pack will do the trick, and their size seems more manageable when I’m focused on a trail.

I would like to remind my fellow outdoorsmen and women to remove all flagging once you are finished. It might be a pain coming out with the last load, and having to wander a bit to retrieve your flagging, but we all appreciate a clean forest.

10 Comments

I like the last paragraph reminding hunters to pick the flagging back up. So few do. As a warden in AZ for 30 years I continually found flagging left in the field and I still do. The worst were signs and flagging left to direct friends to camps. Paper plates, spray-painted rocks, trees and roads. The majority left those markers in the field. Thanks for reminding them to remove them. Also, I know some who say they use TP to mark trails with as the rain destroys it. It’s still littering and in the SW sometimes rain is far and few between.

I use toilet paper for the same purpose. To say it’s littering is crazy the toilet paper will break down quickly but the tape will take for ever. I guess it’s also littering to take a crap in the woods and use toilet paper to wipe.

I’ve been using the tape for years. I took an old 35mm film container and cut a slit in the top. Stuff as much tape into the container as I want or it will hold, and feed the cut end thru the slit in the top. Handy dispenser.

Yes, good stuff to have, but I would mark blood trails with TP instead because you can leave more “marks” and just leave it. It will break down. I would use flag tape where a more permanent marker is wanted. Something you don’t have to go retrieve.

In drier climates like southern AZ we may have months where there may be no precipitation so it takes a long time to deteriorate. Yeah, I admit I ‘use’ toilet paper in the field BUT I bury it. I find the same concept people use when they throw cans and bottles in a fire and assume they are destroyed. They aren’t. It’s littering. I bet if someone TPs their house we’d call it littering. Bet they don’t wait for the rain to break it down either. Keep it clean out there folks.